Arabesque

This is quite an enjoyable romantic thriller that brings out the best in both Gregory Peck - as the hapless academic and Sophia Loren as the duplicitous girlfriend of our baddie Alan Badel. The premiss is a shade too convoluted - the professor is recruited to help track down and decipher an hieroglyphic scroll that may prevent the assassination of a Middle Eastern Prime Minister. There are loads of red herrings and a pithily paced dialogue - that reminded me of one of the better episodes of "The Man from UNCLE" - to help keep us amused as he navigates the waters of international political intrigue; and manages to fall in love a bit too. It's not the most original storyline you'll ever watch, but there is much more for Loren to get her teeth into; and though Badel overacts shockingly as "Beshraavi" - there is still plenty of clues and counter-clues to bamboozle the best of us!